The Collector had been watching these proceedings with deep interest.
When his own men reached him, he said to them:
"I'm ashamed of you. Here you let two absolutely green men step in and do the work you've been at for years, much better than you do it yourselves."
"Well," grimly admitted Gibson, "they've kept their boast and beaten us badly, I'm sorry to say. I don't need to wish them luck for they've got either a large amount of it, or else they had some inside information."
"Your latter surmise is the correct one," said Harry. "We sent a man down the bay to meet the steamer. People who are going to smuggle anything rarely take pains to conceal their contraband goods till they are nearing port. We know something about the matter, you see. Moreover, we know would-be smugglers who don't make a profession of it are very careless, talkative about what they are going to smuggle, and apt to give themselves away. By sending a good, smart spotter ahead we learned all about the people we've exposed."
"That game may work very nicely with amateurs. But it would not go with a professional smuggler by any means."
"I quite agree with you," assented Harry.
"Well," said the Collector, "I'm quite satisfied with your performance, Mr. Brady, and am convinced that you are the very men to run down the big smuggler I am so anxious to see arrested."
"We'll do our best," said Old King Brady.
The Collector and the inspectors then went away.